Painting again!

Well! Since Christmas and over New Years I've been in a whirl of family and boats and sunshine, and now I'm finally trying to get back into routine.

 Yesterday I was suddenly inspired to paint a still life after watching a How to set up a still life Video, which shows it takes a long time to set up a good composition. I spent most of the day setting up my makeshift shadow box which you can see in the photo above. There is another lamp behind my easel which is lighting my little set up.

I only had an hour to paint, after I had done that so this is how I left it yesterday. Must go and do as much painting as I can today for I won't have much time in the rest of the week.

Inside my Studio

  If you noticed the absence of Fridays post, then my apologies! My newsletter is also late, but if you have subscribed you will receive it in your inbox this week.

  Here are some photos I took of my studio when I had it all cleaned up a few weeks ago to make a video of it. I shall upload the video next week, I can't yet because it contains unpublished paintings!

 

Max Dog Pastel Portrait

 The cute Max is finished and will soon be on his way to owner. I had great fun doing this portrait, I love the reference photo because he is looking straight at you. I used pastels and pastel pencils on A4 drawing paper. I have always preferred to do larger paintings but have recently discovered how rewarding a small picture can be.

I have discovered audio books, and often listen to them while I work. There are free audiobooks here if you are interested. I was so excited to discover this! =)

My New Drawing Board

After a couple weeks of coaxing and pleading Dad finally made me a drawing board! It took him two afternoons with my help--or hindrance! He made it with no design just a couple of photos I gave him of the sort of thing I wanted. 

The angle is adjustable by unscrewing the wing nuts and putting the screws in other holes. It's a simple design but serves my purpose and I'm very happy with it. As you can see I have begun using it already.

It is very useful for drawing for I always find that when drawing on a flat surface your viewing angle is distorted and what looks fine lying on the desk before you suddenly becomes elongated when you lift it up to view at 90 degrees! The drawing board is supposed to fix that

The only problem now is I need a higher chair!

My Present Situation....

...is here evident.

More on this topic later...!